The effective implementation of ecological protection policies requires the adequate assessment of temporal and spatial changes in the environment. To understand how ecosystem services can be used to track environmental changes, we carried out a study which focused on assessing the changes in the ecosystem services over time and space in Cili County, which is an important forestry region. The method we used was to evaluate the value of the regional ecological services based on the method for evaluating the value equivalent factor per unit area; then, by introducing multi-source data, the InVEST model was optimized to accurately assess the function of the regional ecosystem services, such as carbon storage, soil conservation, and water production. In addition, the values of the ecosystem services and the function assessment results were compared. Finally, based on the results of the optimized InVEST model, the value of the ecosystem services in the study area was regulated and re-evaluated. After re-evaluation, the total value of the ecosystem services in Cili county between 2000 and 2020 still showed an upward trend, increasing from CNY 26.136 billion to CNY 35.444 billion, with a total increase of CNY 9.308 billion. Compared to before the re-evaluation, the total value of the ecosystem services only increased from CNY 32.243 billion to CNY 32.473 billion, with a total increase of CNY 0.23 billion; the change in the value of the ecosystem services was more obvious, with a stronger spatial heterogeneity. The areas with high ecosystem service value in Cili County are mainly concentrated in the eastern parts, as well as the northwestern and southern parts, while the areas with low value are mainly concentrated in the central part of Cili County. The value of the central, southern, and northwestern parts of Cili County increased significantly. Such changes are closely related to China’s implementation of ecological protection policies in this region since 2000, such as returning farmland to forest and natural forest protection. The evaluation results of the ecosystem services and the method for evaluating the value equivalent factor in this study are more consistent with the changes in the ecosystem services in the study area. The dynamic assessment method of ecosystem service value proposed in this study is helpful in achieving accurate assessments of the regional ecosystem services and thus provides a useful reference for the formulation of more reasonable regional ecological protection policies.

Mining activity combines industrialization, urbanization, and urban-rural integration in the compound area of mine agriculture urban. The land ecological environment has become a major hidden problem, restricting the sustainable development and ecological security of the region. It is imminent to understand the spatiotemporal differentiation characteristics of land ecological quality and its obstacle factors to scientifically carry out land ecological restoration. Here, the Macun coal area in Jiaozuo City, Central China, was selected for the case study, and an evaluation index system including four criteria layers of ecological foundation, structure, benefit, and stress was established. The multiperiod evaluation index data were acquired by utilizing remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) technology. Based on the multi-objective comprehensive evaluation method, a comprehensive evaluation of land ecological quality was conducted, and the spatiotemporal differentiation characteristics of land ecological quality were explored. Moreover, an obstacle factor diagnosis model was constructed to confirm the spatiotemporal differentiation characteristics of obstacle factors affecting the change of the land ecological quality in the study zone. The results showed the following: (1) From 1980 to 2020, the land ecological quality index in the study zone showed a downward trend, and the proportion of the regional area with general and poor land ecological quality increased from 6.55% to 35.02%. (2) The areas with lower land ecological quality in each period of the study zone were mainly distributed in the mining areas with long mining history in the west and the areas with continuous urbanization and industrialization in the south. In contrast, the compound area of mine agriculture urban with short mining history in the east and southeast had higher land ecological quality. The aggregation of the land ecological quality index also showed similar spatial distribution characteristics. (3) The diagnosis results of obstacle factors showed that, due to the poor land ecological foundation and interference of mining activities, the land ecological quality of the mountain area in the north and west of the study area has been low. It is suggested that the land ecological quality of the area should be improved through measures such as terrain regulation, soil reconstruction, afforestation, and forest land conservation. Under the influence of mining activities and the continuous promotion of urbanization in the south of the study area, the regional ecological quality has been reduced. It is suggested that the regional land ecological quality should be improved by building ecological agriculture and ecological communities. The northeast of the study area is still in the mining area, and the ecological quality of the land tends to deteriorate. The ecological restoration in this area should be conducted by the combination of pre-mining planning, while-mining control, and post-mining restoration. The methodology of this study can provide reference for the identification and restoration of land ecological problems in the compound area of mine agriculture urban.

Characteristics of carbon storage and density in different layers of forest ecosystems should be studied comprehensively and in more detail. Using forest inventory data in combination with field...

The accurate estimation of forest canopy height is important because it leads to increased accuracy in the estimation of biomass, which is used in the study of the global carbon cycle, forest productivity, and climate change. However, there is no well-developed model that accurately estimates canopy height over undulating land. This paper describes the development of a back-propagation (BP) neural network model that estimates forest canopy height more accurately than other types of model. For modeling purposes, the land in the study area was classified as either plain (low relief areas) or hilly (high relief areas). Four different slope partition thresholds (5°, 10°, 15°, and 20°) were tested to determine the most suitable boundary value. ICESat-GLAS data provided by the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) aboard the Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat), field survey data, and digital elevation model (DEM) data were collected and refined, and various parameters, including waveform extent and topographic index, were calculated. A BP neural network model was created to estimate forest canopy height. Two other models were also developed, one using the topographic index and the other using multiple linear regression, for comparison with the BP neural network model. After calibration, the three models were tested to assess the accuracy of the estimates. The results showed that the BP model estimated canopy height more accurately than the other two models. The use of a 10° boundary to partition the topography into low relief areas and high relief areas improved the accuracy of each model; using the 10° slope boundary, the coefficient of correlation r between the estimates given by the BP neural network model and the field-measured data increased from 0.89 to 0.95 and the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) decreased from 1.01 to 0.73 m.